‘Fire in My Belly’ for Better Media
Katy Parrish didn’t know what she would find when she sat down at her computer five years ago and typed the words “alternative media” into a search engine. She was outraged at the mainstream media’s coverage of the war in Iraq, and her local media in Anchorage, Alaska wasn’t much better.
A few months later, she was on a plane headed to Madison, WI to attend Free Press’ first National Conference for Media Reform. Parrish said she was so inspired by the people she met during the conference, she “came home with this fire in my belly to create awareness around media consolidation.”
After organizing community forums and teaching media literacy workshops, Parrish was tapped to run a new non-profit community television station in Anchorage, KACN-TV. The low-power station was created to “provide a ‘voice’ for Alaskans and address the polarization and disparity experienced by many” as other local and national commercial stations dismissed their public interest obligations.
The station offers training to both youth and adults in videography, television production, computer training, and media literacy.
“When people get their hands on [media tools] and realize they have access, they start understanding that there are only a few companies controlling the information that they’re receiving,” Parrish said. “It’s like these light bulbs go off as far as how [media consolidation] is impacting democracy.”
Not only are citizen journalists able to broadcast their own videos and news stories, but Parrish said the station airs public interest documentaries. “We have the ability to broadcast documentaries that typically people would not see,” she said. “So here you have rural Alaska seeing a movie and that content is not being seen anywhere up here at other stations.”
Watching people become empowered and take back their media gives Parrish hope.
“Prior to stumbling upon alternative media, I was pretty cynical about where we were headed as a country,” she said. “I still have my bouts of cynicism, but every time I see one person become inspired and be able to share their stories and their voices, and see other people realize that they can share their story, I just know we can rise above all of this insanity.”
